Alison Rivera
Alison Rivera was a contestant on Season 14 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 7th place. Personality Despite her young age, Alison was a strong, passionate chef. In the kitchen, she was consistent during challenges and dinner services throughout most of her run on the show. Unfortunately, she crumbled during her last service and lost the chance to receive a black jacket. She had a short-lived running feud with Monique and developed a friendship with Meghan, but somewhat annoyed her teammates by saying "all day" during dinner services. Season 14 Episode 1 On the bus ride to Hell's Kitchen, Alison revealed that she was originally from Jamaica. When the chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen, the doors were locked, and they noticed that Ramsay was on the roof. Then, he said that in order to see if the chefs were 100% committed, they would jump onto an air mattress from the roof, but she feared that she would die. While she was more eager to jump after seeing Enrique and Ruth doing it, Ramsay revealed that it was not necessary as those two were stunt people, much to her relief, and asked the chefs to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Alison was the seventh person from the red team to have their dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Adam. She made a red snapper, but Ramsay criticized the dish for having a runny sauce, and she scored three points. The red team lost the challenge 28-31, and they were punished by resetting the dining room for the opening night, and sealing confirmation letters in envelopes. During the punishment, she took the lead when they were resetting the dining room, but Monique did not appreciate it, feeling that she was being too entitled. During dinner service, Alison was on the appetizer station with Meghan. She was not seen much, but the red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 2 Back in the dorms, Alison bluntly told Monique that she should have been the one eliminated, but the latter said that she did not care, leading the her to believe that she was the weakest link of the red team. After, she frustratingly left as she could not get through Monique, and deemed her oblivious. During the Crabs Challenge, Alison was on a boat with Sarah, Monique, and Mieka during par one, and they were seen grabbing a cage with no crabs in it. After the red team lost the first part, she was disappointed that the men came first, but knew that the challenge was not over yet, and was ready to bounce back. During part two, she was paired with Meghan, and they were seen two of their attempts accepted. The red team won the challenge 10-7, and they were rewarded with a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, traveling through cactus trails by horseback, and a dinner at the Four Seasons Resort. She was happy that they were going to enjoy Arizona as a team. During prep, Alison helped Mieka out when the latter proved to be confused. During dinner service, she was on the meat station with Michelle. At one point, she told Mieka to get it together after she got confused again. Later, she was giving directions to Michelle, but the latter did not appreciate it as she knew how to cook meat, and the two of them started to chafe over their different methods of speed. An impatient Ramsay asked why the lamb was taking too long, and reminded her and Michelle that T was not there to wipe their butts when the latter answered for them. The red team eventually won the service. Episode 3 During the Alaskan Fish Challenge, Alison was paired with Michelle, and they were seen getting their halibut pieces accepted. At one point, she expressed surprise that Mieka scored for the red team. She and Michelle were the final pair from the red team to have their dishes judged, and they went up against Milly and Adam. She made a cabbage wrapped halibut, and while it was criticized for not having a fattier fish portion, the red team won that round. The red team won the challenge 3-1, and they were rewarded with a trip to the Manhattan Beaches, got surfing lessons from surfer Anastasia Ashley, and eating lunch. During the reward, she admitted that she never surfed before despite growing up in Jamaica. During dinner service, Alison was on the fish station with Monique. After Monique sent up overcooked scallops, she told Ramsay that the former was responsible, and decided to cook the scallops herself. Both teams were named joint-losers, and were asked to nominate two each. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 4 Back in the dorms, Alison noticed that Josh and Adam did not miss Michael after the two talked about joining the two empty beds together. During the American Classics Challenge, Alison was paired with Christine on the macaroni and cheese, she was the third person from the red team to have her dish judged, and went up against Josh. She made a mac and cheese on a bun, it was criticized for its weird concept, tasting too crunchy, and she lost that round to Josh. The red team eventually won the challenge after a tie breaker at 4, and they were rewarded with a trip to Long Beach, and rode on the historic American Pride yacht. During the Family Night dinner service, Alison was on the appetizer station with Michelle. At one point, she felt that her macaroni and cheese was ready, but Michelle added more seasoning to it, which made it taste disgusting. After the red team got kicked out of the kitchen, she said that it was a complete fucking joking. The red team lost the service, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, she got dismayed when Sarah thought that her raw burger was ready earlier, deemed Mieka not great overall, and Monique dead weight for the red team. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 5 During the International Cheese Challenge, Alison competed against Brendan, and their dish was croquettes. During the cooking, she called Monique's idea on a simple grilled cheese not creative at all. She was the fifth person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and presented her honey ham croquette with fontina cheese. It was praised for being intriguing, having finesse, and she scored over Brendan. The red team won the challenge 5-4, and they were rewarded with a trip to Marina Del Ray, and a Jet Ski activity at the ocean. During dinner service, Alison served a special Parmesan frica appetizer tableside. She was not seen, the red team lost the service, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, she voiced out that strong individuals were needed by that point, told Monique that she herself could not cook half of the menu items, and that she would have struggled even more without Meghan’s help. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 6 During the Firefighter Service Challenge, Alison was on the grilling station with Michelle. At one point, she got dismayed when Sarah struggled to dress her Caesar salad, and later, she called T's chicken gross when it had grease bubbles on them. The red team lost the challenge, and were punished by detailing the fire engines outside the front entrance, and prepping 400 chicken wings for the following service. During the punishment, she got annoyed by Meghan's negativity, and even told the latter to quit when she threatened to nominate herself. During dinner service, Alison was on the meat station. She was not seen much, except for feeling that Meghan was not talking to Sarah as a person, and said that she had a big harsh whip. The red team won the service. Episode 7 Back in the dorms, Alison asked where Josh was when the rest were eating dinner. During the Greek Cuisine Challenge, Alison went up against Josh, and their dish was lamb. She was the first person from the red team to have her dish judged, and presented her tahini marinated lamb and Greek yogurt filling. While it was praised for a great presentation, Michael Psilakis felt that the lamb was overcooked, and she scored 6 points. The red team lost the challenge 40-41, and they were punished by cleaning up both the dining room, and the kitchens for the following service. During dinner service, Alison was on the fish station. On the first ticket of appetizers, she sent up raw lobster tail that was ice cold, much to her embarrassment, and then, she sent up an overcooked lobster that smelled like they were in fried butter. Soon after, Ramsay revealed that she burnt the butter in the pot. Despite that, her third attempt was accepted. The red team lost the service, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Michelle reminded her how her lobster tails forced them to restart their first order of appetizers, which T agreed with. However, she retorted that it was Christine’s second time on garnish and that she tried to communicate with the latter, but Meghan reminded her that she should have taken over the moment Christine struggled. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 8 During the Alcohol Challenge, Alison got her idea locked down. She was the second person from the red team to have her dish judged, and presented her ribeye and port wine sauce. She received 10 points as Ramsay felt that the dish needed a little more finesse. The red team eventually lost the challenge 30-31, and they were punished by participating in laundry day which included ironing, starching, folding, steaming the glassware, and polishing the silverware. During punishment, she and Michelle got into a minor argument over how to steam the tablecloths. During the Gastropub Night dinner service, Alison was on the meat station. At one point, she gave Michelle her lambs to send to the pass, it was raw, and Ramsay lectured her for forcing the youngest chef to send up raw lamb. Despite that, she quickly got her refire accepted, and the red team won the service. After elimination, Alison was still embarrassed over making stupid mistakes that night, and realized that she could not keep doing that as there was no more room for error. Episode 9 During the Exotic Protein Challenge, Alison chose elk as her dish, and went up against Nick. She was the first person from the red team to have her dish judged, and presented her pan-seared elk with potatoes and sautéed bok choy. While it was criticized for having an amateur presentation, it was praised for tasting better than it looked, and she scored 8 points. The red team lost the challenge 33-34, and they were punished by deep cleaning both kitchens, and drinking a protein shake that contained the leftover protein from the challenge. During the punishment, Alison complained that it was a long day due to the amount of work, and noticed that there was not a lot of talking due to everything needing to be scrubbed, before calling it intense. After Sous Chef Andi revealed that one of the milkshakes was a normal one, she compared it to the lottery, and soon threw up her milkshake. When Nick flaunted his spa day, she accused the men of not even appreciating their reward. During the progress report, Alison was the eighth chef to be called down in Ramsay's office. He noticed that while she started as one of the strongest chefs, she was stepping backwards during her previous services, and told her to stop accepting either third or fourth best. She was not deemed the weakest chef on the red team by her teammates, and therefore did not compete in the Cook For Your Life Challenge. During the challenge, Alison expressed concern when Christine cut the inside of the lobster, and poorly butchering the lobster tail. When it was revealed that Christine failed to put the tomato confit in the risotto, she got dismayed by that as it was a life or death situation. While being dismissed, she realized that there were only four strong individuals in the red team at the moment, and called them a force to be reckoned with. Episode 10 Back in the dorms, Alison congratulated Randy for winning the Cook For Your Life Challenge. During the Homecoming Planning Challenge, Alison and T paired up on the seafood appetizer, they were the first pair from the red team to have their dish judged, and went up against Milly. They made jalapeno grits with cheddar cheese and lobster, and while it was praised by Abigail and Georgia for the sauce and presentation, Max deemed the grits a little watery and salty, and they lost that round to Milly. Before Michelle's turn, she remarked that the red team has lost the past four challenges, before hoping that the latter's dish would blow the kid’s minds. The red team lost the challenge 1-2, and they were punished by rearranging the dining room for the following night based on the committee’s directions, and string 200 bead necklaces together. During the punishment, Alison complained that while it was one thing to lose the challenge, it was another thing to have to listen to high schoolers dictate where things needed to be, and wanted to be stabbed in the eyeball. During prep, Alison was given directions by Meghan on making the pasta, but she deemed her aggravating, and said that she had enough of Meghan’s poor people skills. During the Homecoming Dance dinner service, she was on the garnish station. At one point, she decided to help Michelle as she did not want the meat to sink them, but the latter did not appreciate it due to her making basic mistakes. Later, she decided to expedite the remaining tickets, but annoyed her teammates as she kept calling out five pasta, was not communicating properly, and kept using the word “all day”. After service ended, she said that while service was not perfect, she was glad they finished strong. The red team won the service. During elimination, Alison said goodbye to Meghan as the latter was relocated to the blue team, and welcomed Josh as a new teammate. While being dismissed, she declared that she would become the new leader for the red team. Episode 11 During the Blind Taste Test, Alison did not get dunked during Josh's turn. She was the final person from the red team to compete, and went up against Randy from the blue team. She scored two points as she got tomatoes and oatmeal. During the sudden death round, she was at the dunk tank, and got dunked once when Josh failed to get zucchini, but forgave him later. The red team won the challenge after a tie breaker at 9, and they were rewarded with a trip to Petrossian to taste caviar, and received a $2,000 shopping spree. During the reward, Alison called it the best reward yet, had fun with her teammates, and called epic. During the closed charity dinner service, Alison oversaw the lobster risotto. She realized that she had to own up to her course, got very communicative with her team, and sent her course out with no problems. During Josh's course, she found out that the tuna was overcooked, but when he decided to pick out the better pieces, she remarked that it was his dish, and would have to own up to it in the end. After it was revealed that all Josh's tuna was overcooked, she said that she tried to warn the former about it, before declaring that their ass was grass. The red team lost the service, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Alison was left wondering who to nominate as Josh screw up that night, T and Michelle were arguing a lot, and said that the two weakest links had to go up for elimination. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 12 During the King of the Hill Challenge, Alison unlocked a locker with nothing in it on her first attempt, and got ribeye on her second attempt. She was the fifth chef to have her dish judged, and presented her ribeye. It was deemed overcooked before Ramsay could even taste it, she failed to dethrone Meghan, and she was embarrassed that Ramsay did not even taste her dish. The red team won the challenge, and they were rewarded with a trip to Catalina Islands, received a private submarine ride, a four-course dinner at the Catalina Country Club, and Vitamix blenders. During the reward, she felt like a royal due to the fancy decor at the Country Club. During the Steak Night dinner service, Alison was on the fish and grilling stations. When working on her entrées, she was working on her dishes, and knew that she had to step up as a leader for the red team. However, her filet was raw, Ramsay brought the red team to the back pantry, and told her that she did not even deserve a red jacket, let alone a black jacket. She knew that there were no excuses that night, and Ramsay ordered the red team to figure out their situation before going back to the kitchen. She asked for help on monitoring her filets, Michelle offered to help on the grill, and the red team went back to the kitchen with her determined not to let it happen again. However, Ramsay found out that her salmon was raw, and informed the red team about it. Later, while she got her refire ready, she was delayed by Josh's slow performance on garnish, which angered Ramsay as that meant the salmon would get overcooked by then. Later, Ramsay and Marino were still waiting for her salmon, the former berated her for putting Marino in an awkward position, and informed her that half of the table had already finished their entrées. When she did send up her refire, Ramsay saw that the salmon was overcooked on one side, called Steak Night disaster night, reminded the red team that they had nine tables left to fire, and accused them of not caring. After, she was kicked off the fish station, and she embarrassingly stated that she wanted to die right now. The red team lost the service, and both teams were asked to nominate two people for elimination from the red team. During deliberation, T asked Alison what happened that night, she decided to man up and take responsibility for her poor performance, but Michelle reminded her that it was not the opening night, and that she could not even handle her own station. Then, she and T considered Josh based on his unfocused performance on garnish. Alison was named the red team's second nominee, with Josh as the first. During her plea, she said that she had displayed consistency throughout the competition, admitted that her performance was an epic shit show, and knew that she could be the chef Ramsay wanted. She was eliminated for her disastrous performance on fish, but before leaving, Ramsay praised her for flashes of brilliance. During her exit interview, she beated herself up for screwing up on an important night, but knew that she still had hope as she was still young, and felt that she became stronger since she started. Ramsay's comment: "Alison had a strong voice in the kitchen. Unfortunately, she couldn't talk her way into a black jacket." Episode 16 Alison was one of the eight chefs who returned for the final dinner service. She was Meghan's second pick, after Michelle, and followed by Josh and Randy. During dinner service, Alison was on the garnish station. At one point, she got annoyed by Meghan telling her what to do on garnish, and felt that if the former did not trust her work, they would struggle. Later, she got dismayed when Randy sent up raw chicken as she thought it was a time to be at their best. Meghan eventually won the finals over T. Nomination history Trivia *She is the first Jamaican contestant of Hell's Kitchen. *She is the last contestant of that season to be eliminated before the black jackets were given. *She is the ninth contestant, and fifth non-black-jacket contestant to be eliminated on the first time being nominated, following Jimmy (Season 1), Garrett and Keith (Season 2), Giovanni (Season 5), Elizabeth (Season 9), Kimmie (Season 10), Michael and Anthony (Season 11). *After her appearance on the show, she became a chef at the Mexican restaurant Mission Cantina. Quotes *(About Meghan) "You see, the thing about Meghan, she doesn't know how to talk to people. Like, 'do this, do that.' Meghan has a big, harsh whip." *(About Monique) "I see Monique with two slices of bread, the cheese, a bit of tomato and that's it. Where's that level of creativity? Oh right, Monique has no creativity!!" *(Referring to the red's team Family Night service) "This is a complete epic Shit Show!" *(After being eliminated) "It beats me up knowing that the one night of the jackets is when I royally screw myself, but I'm still young, so there's hope. The universe is definitely my oyster at this point. I am a better chef than when I walked in these doors, and if you can deal with Chef Ramsay, I feel like you can deal with anything else in the world." External Links * Category:Chef Category:Season 14 Category:New Yorkers Category:Final Service Brigade Category:7th Place